


How do you do it?

by InkWizard



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: 1x02, AU, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Background Fred and Win, Background Relationships, Basically the Thursdays welcoming Morse into the family, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e02 Fugue, Father Figure, Gen, Hey remember that, Hurt, Hurt Morse, Hurt/Comfort, I guess technically it's an au, I mean besides Fred and Win, Morse Whump, Morse needs a family pass it on, No Slash, Oxford, Parental Fred Thursday, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Spoilers for Fugue 1x02, Stab Wound, They'll be the death of me, alternative universe, british detective shows, post-episode
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-07 01:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18227957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkWizard/pseuds/InkWizard
Summary: Thursday gives a different response at the end of Fugue (1x02)Featuring: Thursday deciding to take care of this skinny stick of a sad detective instead of telling him to go listen to opera in an empty flat.Also: Win Thursday is a mother hen and a fantastic cook





	How do you do it?

**Author's Note:**

> \-- -- -- 
> 
> Welcome to my first published fanfic! Honestly, I never thought it would be an Endeavour fic, but this show has dragged me down hard and fast into the fandom.
> 
> Actual Note: Several pieces of dialogue are direct quotes from the show and I am not intending to take credit for them.
> 
> \-- -- --

 

 

“How do you do it?”

Thursday half turned back towards Morse from where he’d been about to follow Bright across the rooftop.

“Leave it at the front door?” Morse continued. The young man’s out-stretched hand held a fine tremor, better concealed than Thursday’s own clumsy fingers barely a minute past.

“Because I have to.” The inspector paused, “A case like this’ll tear the heart right out of a man.”

He broke eye contact with Morse, examining the weather-beaten roof tiles at their feet. Thursday had a family to go home to—Win, Joan, and Sam. People to protect and care for. People who sent him off each morning with lovingly made sandwiches and well-wishes to return home safe. Morse didn’t have that. No one to take care of him, no one to make sure he ate a proper supper, no one to distract him in the evenings when the darkness became too difficult to bear. He remembered how incredibly young Morse looked collapsed on his sitting room couch, the insecurity and shy smiles at his family’s banter over dinner. _To be clever is to be alone forever_ Gull’s words repeated in his mind. Thursday knew little of Morse’s personal life, but he’d place a wager that he didn’t have much to tie hime down in this world, Oxford or elsewhere.

Damn it all.

“Find something worth defending,”

“I thought I had found something.” Morse interjected.

“Music?” the boy’s face fell for a moment, and Thursday continued. “I suppose music is as good as anything, but what you really need is people.”

“People, sir?” eyebrows furrowed on the thin, serious face.

He gave a sharp nod. “The ones who care about you, and you them. People to ground you and serve as a reminder of everything the darkness couldn’t take from you.”

Thursday paused, looking out over Oxford as the church bells began to ring the hour.

“Win will have dinner on the table soon enough, and there’s always room for one more,” he grunted, “what do you say we finish up what needs doing and head on home?”

He glanced at Morse, who was also gazing at the late afternoon sun across the rooftops. The boy’s eyes glistened slightly as he looked back and gave a sharp nod.

“I’d like that, sir.”

As the two made their way down to where Bright and the rest of the officers were packing Gull away, Thursday considered the man on the winding stair in front of him. Morse was hunched over slightly, no doubt favoring his aggravated knife wound after climbing around the rooftops. A lonely figure endeavoring to survive the darkness that surrounds jobs like theirs. A young man in need of caring.

 _We’ll be his people,_ Thursday swore to himself, _if I have anything to do with it._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my first published work on ao3!  
> Depending on the response I'll continue posting as inspiration and motivation strike.  
> I also already have another in the works surrounding the bank robbery in Coda 3x04. (Such a good episode)
> 
> Ideas are always a bonus! *hint hint*


End file.
